Don’t dodge this sport, it’s for everyone
When you talk about sports, it doesn’t always need to be the conventional ones like basketball, football, or volleyball to influence children into becoming healthy and active individuals.
There are other sports that at first glance look like just simple games that don’t promote anything but pure fun, but they encourage physical activity. Dodgeball fits this mode perfectly!
Ronald de Villa has been involved in this sport since he was eight years old, and he continues to play the game with the same fervor and enthusiasm now that he is also trying to promote the game to the kids of today.
This childhood game has evolved into a community sport, which can be played by anyone — in teams with mixed gender, varied capabilities, and different ages. It is also played as a form of crosstraining or as a fun workout for individuals who desire to increase their physical activity.
If you haven’t seen the sport, it’s fairly simple — all you do is dodge the ball being hurled at you, and at the same time try to hit an opponent to eliminate him from the game. It uses a ball specifically designed for the sport made of a rubber sac covered with soft foam and cloth to significantly decrease the impact of the ball upon hitting an individual, which makes it relatively safe, even for young children.
PHILIPPINE STAR: A lot of awareness has to be done to help enhance the growth of your sport. How do you contribute to this?
RONALD DE VILLA: While there have been movies which featured this game, and schools which include this in their PE curriculum, a lot of Filipinos are still unaware that this sport exists. There are a lot of variations, such as the games we played as children, but there’s still so much to know about the rules if it is to be explored as a sport. When I was with PDBA, several sponsors helped us in our cause. Unfortunately, there were several external factors, which kept us away from our goals of spreading the love for this sport. When I went back to teaching in a school, our students picked up this passion, hence I organized Kids Dodgeball Philippines (https://www.facebook.com/ kidsdodgeballph/?fref=ts) which aims to introduce this sport to more children, seven to 12 years old. Currently, my small but very passionate team gives free dodgeball open play/clinics to those who are interested to learn the game.
Are there a lot of events that can keep you in top shape?
In the last couple of years, we’ve held two main events. A series of dodgeball clinics, which is usually held at the beginning of a school year, and a Little League which is held towards the end of the school year. As of today, our friends at Philippine Athletics and Social Sports have established a weekly Dodgeball Open Play on Thursday nights at Bonifacio Global City. As we go around in schools and communities, we hope to establish more open plays and leagues.
Are there international events and competitions?
The sport of dodgeball has several international events, which are usually sanctioned by the World Dodgeball Federation and the International Dodgeball Federation. Unfortunately, we are not yet members of these organizations as most of the players are already adults. Once, when I was with the PDBA, we held an International Friendly with teams coming from Singapore and Slovenia as well as representatives of Dodgeball organizations from Malaysia and Korea. It is our dream to establish International Friendlies for the seven-to-12 age bracket in the future.
What would be the pinnacle of the sport for you?
The dream is to establish dodgeball as a community sport for the kids/youth (and kids-at-heart) in every barangay in the Philippines. As we already have a basketball court in each barangay, a venue to play the sport is no longer a problem. All we need is a set of balls and a group of players who are looking at staying physically active even without engaging in an athletic or competitive sports program. It’s a game for everyone. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @anthonysuntay, and like my Facebook page: Anthony Suntay.